Creative Education Center names director

WEST PALM BEACH — As the Center for Creative Education (CCE) enters its 20th anniversary year of providing arts integration services to Palm Beach County students, Cecilia St. Hilaire has joined the organization as director of development.

In her new role, St. Hilaire will be responsible for all aspects of a comprehensive donor program, including fundraising, event management, donor data management, board member development and donor communications for the West Palm Beach based nonprofit. She recently served as director of development, operations and finance for Opportunity Inc. for nine years.

“This move allows me to continue my passion for children’s education in an organization with a broader reach across Palm Beach County,” said St. Hilaire. “CCE’s mission of arts integration is a way to even the playing field for disadvantaged children at risk of failure and it allows academically advanced students an opportunity to explore higher order thinking processes. We are looking for supporters who care about art, education and children. I am truly excited about this new role.”

Since its inception 20 years ago, approximately 150,000 children have experienced CCE’s method of merging art with academics to bring learning to life, engaging children in hands-on, project-based education. CCE teaching artists use the arts as a vehicle to help students gain greater understanding of science, math, literacy and other areas of learning.

Traditionally CCE works with disadvantaged students at school sites all over Palm Beach County, providing after-school and in school programming to many students considered “at risk.” In addition, they are hired by private and independent schools to provide arts integrated instruction, said CEO Robert Harmon.

“As we look toward the next 20 years of this organization,” said Hamon, “we knew that this position would be critical to our continued evolution. Our timing was strategic and we know we have recruited the right individual to fill this important role.

“CCE is the largest provider of after-school services in Palm Beach County, and yet, we can only fulfill less than half of the requests we get because of lack of funding,” he continued. “That means we are turning away thousands of children a year. Cecilia’s skill set is perfectly suited for CCE. She has a strong record of financial and operational success with incredible knowledge of non-profit management. Her success within the philanthropic community in South Florida is a tremendous asset and we are thrilled with her addition to our team.”

In addition to her professional role, St. Hilaire volunteers as a long-standing board commissioner of the Westgate CRA, a member of the West Palm Beach Rotary Club, the Planned Giving Council of the Palm Beaches, the Northwood Renaissance marketing committee and the Circles Guiding Coalition of Palm Beach County.

A native of the Caribbean island of Dominica, she currently divides her time between homes in Wellington and Lighthouse Point.

For information on CCE’s in-school and after-school programming, classes in its Northwood Village headquarters, to participate in events or make a donation to benefit at-risk school programs, visit www.cceflorida.org or call 561-805-9927.